Final
Johnson leads Lightning over Habs
Jan 7, 2015 - 4:01 AM Montreal, QC (SportsNetwork.com) - Tyler Johnson scored twice to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.Brett Connolly and J.T. Brown also scored, while Ben Bishop made 20 saves for the Lightning, who have won six of their last seven.
"I think the biggest thing is that we're playing as a team," said Johnson. "That's the great thing about the guys in this locker room. It doesn't matter who gets the goals or the assists, we're all trying to win games."
Dale Weise and Max Pacioretty scored for the Canadiens, who had a six-game winning streak broken. Carey Price allowed all four goals on 36 shots in the loss.
"We forgot tonight why we have had success," said Montreal head coach Michel Therrien. "We didn't deserve to win so we have to put this one behind us and get back our focus, get our work ethic back and our discipline back for our next game."
The Canadiens drew first blood in this game on Weise's fifth goal of the season at 15:07 of the first period, but the Lightning scored four times in the second to take control of the contest.
Tampa's first goal came at 3:17 as Jonathan Drouin's wrister on the fly from the right circle was stopped, but Brown was in front to backhand home the rebound.
Skating on the power play, the Lightning made it a 2-1 game as Johnson and Nikita Kucherov played catch with the puck before Johnson whacked it in for his 16th of the season at 10:42.
A turnover in the neutral zone saw Tampa go the other way, with Cedric Paquette passing it from the right wing to the slot for Valtteri Filppula, who had his back to the net and left a drop pass where Connolly blasted it home with 1:44 left.
Just over a minute later on the power play, Johnson banged in a rebound in front of the net for his second of the game and a 4-1 lead.
Montreal got one back at 5:01 of the third when Pacioretty skated in on a short break and snapped a wrister that hit Bishop's glove on its way into the net.
That was as close as it got, though, as the Canadiens gave up a pair of man advantages, including one in the final minute, that hindered their chance at a comeback.
Game Notes
Tampa Bay hosts Buffalo on Friday ... Montreal hosts Pittsburgh on Saturday ... Tampa was 2-for-6 on the power play while Montreal went 0-for-3 ... Kucherov and Ondrej Palat each had two assists for Tampa ... Montreal assigned defenseman Bryan Allen to Hamilton of the AHL on Tuesday.
- TAMPA BAY: 4
MONTREAL: 2
Final
Jan 6 10:08 PM - TAMPA BAY: 4
MONTREAL: 1
End of 1st
Jan 6 9:11 PM - Ondrej Palat scores a power-play goal assisted by Nikita Kucherov
Lightning 4, Canadiens 1 2nd - 0:10Jan 6 9:11 PM - TAMPA BAY: 0
MONTREAL: 1
End of 1st
Jan 6 8:14 PM - TAMPA BAY: 0
MONTREAL: 0
1st Period - 19:57
Jan 6 7:39 PM
Related News
- It’s not an ending, it’s a new beginning Mar 30
- Eyes On The Prize is on the move Mar 30
- Kirby Dach out at least one week with an upper-body injury Mar 30
- Washington Capitals at Tampa Bay Lightning Preview and Game Day Thread Mar 30
- Lightning Round: peering over at the rampant wild card race Mar 30
- Habs vs. Panthers Game preview Mar 30
- Links: Jordan Harris learns there’s less protection in the NHL Mar 30
- Rating The Tank: Fly away edition Mar 29
- Lightning Round: can the Bolts catch Toronto? Mar 29
- Heineman and Teasdale score twice in Rocket win Mar 29
- Links: A Matter of Time Mar 29
- Tampa Bay Lightning Recap: Bolts get clean win over Carolina Mar 28